That's Amore

"That's Amore"
Single by Dean Martin
from the album Dean Martin Sings
B-side "You're The Right One"
Released November 7, 1953
Recorded August 13, 1953 at Capitol Studios, Hollywood
Genre Pop
Length 3:05
Label Capitol
Songwriter(s) Jack Brooks, Harry Warren

"That's Amore" is a 1953 song by composer Harry Warren[1] and lyricist Jack Brooks.[1] It became a major hit and signature song for Dean Martin in 1953. Amore (pronounced [aˈmoːre]) means "love" in Italian.

History

The song first appeared in the soundtrack of the Martin and Lewis comedy film The Caddy, released by Paramount Pictures on August 10, 1953. Lewis commissioned Warren and Brooks to write songs for Martin to sing in the movie. According to Lewis, he personally paid them secretly $30,000 in the hope that one would be a hit for Martin.[2] In the film, the song is performed mainly by Martin, with Lewis joining in and then followed by the other characters in the scene. It received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song of that year, but it lost to "Secret Love" from Calamity Jane starring Doris Day.[1]

The track that was used for the single released by Capitol Records was recorded on August 13, 1953, (Session 3098; Master 11694-6), with the orchestra conducted by Dick Stabile, at Capitol Records' studios at 5505 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, California. On November 7, 1953, Martin's record of the song, with "You're the Right One" (which was recorded at the same session as "That's Amore") on the flip side, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard charts.

The song remains closely identified with Dean Martin. That's Amore was used as the title for a 2001 video retrospective of Martin's career; and his son, Ricci Martin, titled his 2002 biography That's Amore: A Son Remembers Dean Martin.[3] As an iconic song, "That's Amore" remains a secondary signature song.

Many artists have covered this song, including Alma Cogan, who sang it on the BBC radio programme Take It From Here on December 31, 1953, and Connie Francis, who sang an Italian adaptation of the song on her 1960 album More Italian Favorites.

The song was parodied in Mario Teaches Typing,a Mario spinoff game for children learning how to type, referencing "a Moray" eel

References

  • Lewis, Jerry; Kaplan, James (2005). Dean & Me (A Love Story). New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-7679-2086-4.
  • Martin, Ricci (2002). That's Amore: A Son Remembers Dean Martin. Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87833-272-4.
  • Osborne, Robert (1994). 65 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards. London: Abbeville Press. ISBN 1-55859-715-8.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Osborne 1994, p. 131.
  2. ↑ Lewis & Kaplan 2005, p. 163.
  3. ↑ Martin 2002, p. 256.

Further reading

  • Rotella, Mark (2010). Amore: The Story of Italian American Song. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-86547-698-1.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.